Sella is, without a doubt, one of the great icons of 20th century Italian design. The stool’s design is the work of the Castiglioni brothers, Achille and Pier Giacomo, who created it in 1957.
Back then, the stool was judged to be too radical, which is why it was not mass-produced by the Italian premium manufacturer Zanotta until 1983. The stool’s elegance seems almost bizarre when you realise that the seat is a traditional bicycle racing saddle.
Placed on a pink lacquered steel bar and ending in a robust cast-iron pedestal, the result is a composition which almost magically creates a highly coherent and noble object. Together with the Mezzadro Stool, whose seat the Castiglioni brothers converted from a tractor seat, Sella is considered to be one of the most extreme designs by the creative pair.
With Sella, the brothers demonstrate their flair for converting everyday objects into original designs. With this, the stool is typical of the whole Zanotta collection, which depicts Italian design from the middle of the 20th century to the present.